Wowwwwwww! You amaze me! I'm coming to Portland this year and might make some extra time to sneak up there to see this!

 

Thanks for the encouragement. I'd love to have you come by! If I live long enough I'd like to consider a body swap. ( On a truck, not me)....Both vehicles are here so we could share info. Your pickup looks so 'right' the way it sits on that frame. Come on over!

 

(Lack of) Progress report.... Been working on an 8ba that came in last fall's mega jailbar trade. I have been hoping to use it to power the woodie, but it may need work still. It's on my run stand and runs very well but has a low cylinder at about 80 lbs. Comes right up to 120 lbs with a sqyuirt of oil. Hoping stuck rings from sitting. It has taken all my spare time for about 2 weeks and I'm at a tough spot on the woodie so it was something else to do. Last night after work I swore off the 8ba for a while and letting that #4 soak in mmo for a week or so. I have 2 good 59ab blocks and tons of parts for when I cave in and take the stuff to a machine shop. This 8ba is already good enough right now for my unlicensed, unregulated, uncorked yarddog tonner tow truck project when I'm 80.

Back to the woodie, I needed to make two more runs of the beltline material so I slabbed off some 2x3 off the 3x8 maple I have. When I go into high vomume production on these things I will have a big shaper with the special cutter to make this part, but for now it's the howling router and multiple set-ups and runs, plus a lot of hand shaping to mimic the beltline of the pickup and panel in this hard-a$$ maple. Worked 3 hrs after work yesterday and got up at 4:30 unable to sleep so after 2 cups of coffee I am going back to it. I have the pieces made but now have to tenon the ends, one of which is 7.5 degrees, the other about 3 degrees. Then mortise out the pillars to accept these askew tenons and assemble on the vehicle. Next time I will make these rear 'quarter panels' on the bench as seperate units and install as a whole. This routering a deep pocket on an already glued and fastened 3x6 hard maple rear pillar is stressful. I will have to dream up a jig for the router so precision is maintained. Too bad the same can't be said for my sanity. I'm goin' in..... Details at 11. Here's some pics I took last week after sanding the roof slats from above.

 

Very captivating, as usual. Lots of wood working stuff in your area, I bet you can find a good old Grizzly for cheap if you look around. I know I saw one for sale at the boat yard in PT a few years back for $300, I think it was at that repurpose store in the boatyard.
A good buddy of mine, who closed and sold out here, is looking at a property in PT and he has a great shaper he does picture frames on. If he doesn't have a stack, he can custom grind one for any profile. But you have to deal with a space-case artist who takes forever to get anything done.

 

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Did ya shoot the cat for walking on the
freshly sanded roof? What will ya cover
it with? Some kind of cloth?

 

I have only looked at one source of woodie parts. Door hinges were something like 425.00 per pair. No thanks. I would think that company would have the correct vinyl or whatever they use for woodie roofs, but it's probably 500 bucks. I think it sort of has a grain to it. For me... I have an old canvas army tent I was thinking of using. Maybe some 'roll on bedliner' brushed on top to make it black and waterproof. Using my wife's broom would probably apply it very quickly and have the added benefit of creating the needed 'grain'. And no jokes like "Then what would she drive to work that day"..... So glad to be working on the woodie that I'm still at it and just now in the house for a quick lunch. Danny is letting me run with it while he builds cabinet doors. Ready to plunge rout the mortises into the pillars, tenons are done. What a pita on an angle. Wish me luck and steady nerves.

 

It's been a week since the last update Gary.
Are ya slackin on us or have the cabinets
got ya down?

 

Well the cabinets have been a bit too busy lately but on I've taken to sneakin down to the shop like at 3 or 4 am otherwise not much woodietime. Now it's 4:45 after work and Ravin will be home in an hour and a half. Been working mostly on the quarter panel area, rear wheel arches and stuff related to the sides. Anything aft of the rear doors. Next I have to figure out best way to make finger joints. I have an idea about stacking saw blades with spacers in between and running them on the table saw. Don't see why it wouldnt work just fine. I'll get pics tonight I hope. I hope you are recuperating nicely Arctic.

 

I've been watching your impressive work silently and always look forward to your next update. You're a great inspiration and I appreciate your sharing this build!

Steve

 

Great work! I've been the fly on the wall for this build. I also check and enjoy reading the latest on how it's going.

I have a beat up '85 F150 4x4 but gotta say, those jailbar Fords are looking better and better for the next project!

 

Last night while scribing thin plywood and cardboard patterns around the rear fenders I realized the fenders were not quite plumb and square with the floor. With the crown falling away towards the body as they do on '40-47 half tons, this changes the shape of the arch dramatically when out of plumb by 1/4". I removed a few bolts and screws and drilled a few new holes and with a framing square made them nice and true. Then my wife got home from work and that's when I go in. I'm still a newlywed and we like to watch the evening news together. Besides, it's cold and damp out there. Today I was on the mainland getting a bunch of jailbar trucks titled in my name from some really old titles. Then I picked up my cast iron 8ba bellhousing that TC shipped me on greyhound. Been a long week, so I'm sitting at the computer next to the wood stove instead of hitting it on the woodie. But heck, tomorrow is the weekend, and after I finish my mason jar of wine I just might go and get a few progress photos. After my heart surgery last year my cardiologist suggested a couple glasses of red wine at night could be beneficial to my recovery. Thanks again to all for the generous comments.

 

I remember being a newlywed. I vaguely remember the going in early and the wine but darned if I remember watching the news!!

 

I guess it's the Donald and Hilary show these days.... I was single for 15 years after being married for 25 years. This time it's waaaaay better I made the choices with my brain this time . Here's a couple pics from where it is tonight.

 

Man that looks good!

A good old song when I was younger went something like "Blow up your TV, throw away your papers, move to the country, build you a home, eat a lot of peaches."

You're mostly there, got the hard part done anyway.